Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40200982›Full record

ArticleClinical neurophysiology practice2025

Muscle excitability testing: Age and sex dependency of normative data.

Matthias Thomas Exl, Belén Rodriguez, Karl Ng, Stella Veronica Tan, James Howells, Hugh Bostock, Hatice Tankisi, Werner J Z'Graggen

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Article in Clinical neurophysiology practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Matthias Thomas ExlDepartment of Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Belén RodriguezDepartment of Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Karl NgDepartment of Neurology and Neurophysiology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
Stella Veronica TanDepartment of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, WC1N 3BG London, United Kingdom.
James HowellsCentral Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Hugh BostockDepartment of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, WC1N 3BG London, United Kingdom.
Hatice TankisiDepartment of Clinical Neurophysiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
Werner J Z'GraggenDepartment of Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: To establish normative data for muscle excitability testing in the tibialis anterior muscle of a healthy population, and to determine their dependence on age and sex. Methods: Parameters of muscle velocity recovery cycle recordings with 1, 2 and 5 conditioning stimuli of 197 healthy subjects and frequency ramp recordings of 151 healthy subjects were retrospectively analysed for age and sex differences. Results: There were no differences by sex and only small age differences were found in healthy subjects older than 60 years for the muscle excitability parameters muscle relative refractory period, early supernormality and latency to the first response in a train at 15 Hz and 30 Hz. Conclusions: In this study, based on a large sample of muscle velocity recovery cycle and frequency ramp recordings, we have provided normative data and shown that muscle excitability testing is not influenced by sex, and that age only has an influence from the age of 60 years onwards on parameters reflecting muscle membrane potential. Significance: Our results suggest that future studies no longer need to control for sex when using a healthy control group.

Indexed as

AgeDirect muscle stimulationElectric stimulationElectromyographyMulti-fibre muscle velocity recovery cycleSarcolemmal excitability properties

Identifiers

PMID40200982
PMCPMC11978295

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